Do you think the markets will drop despite the Fed's assistance?

I kind of feel that they will. I just don't see the positive energy that was once there. I think just like the denial of the housing problem there is a denial of negative feelings towards the US economy. One thing that works in the markets favor is that so many small investors have so little money in the market that its not worth it for them to take it out. I'm one. Collectively though their money makes up quite a lot of the market. The allows those who have money in the market some stability. Who knows which way things will go?

There's a limit I guess to how low the market will go. Another issue it that a lot of small investors don't really know how to manage their investments such as IRAs. They only learned one thing when they started them - 'Put it in an leave it' So their money sits losing and gaining. They don't know that they can move their money out of their mutual fund into a cash account. they just don't know.

What do you think is going to happen over the next few weeks?

The next few weeks i feel the markets will start to recover.
But at the moment i personally feel the market will still fall further, recover only after couple of weeks.
But we can surely hold all long positions at current levels.

I suspect that "volatility" will be the buzzword to
describe the market, let us say for the next 2 months,
as various economic and financial "surprises" are
obviously in store.

A period when "be cautious" might be the best
advice.

Yes! If the fed won't do more, or the government won't do more, then the market will continue to sour. I would expect a larger decline in the overall economy for the next few years.

I'd say that a hard bottom of the market would be 11,000 point level for the Dow in the next 2 years. If the Dow goes below that point, we could be in for a longer period of recession.

It all boils down to how fast we can buy ourselves out of this mess. As long as the consumers continue to buy big ticket items and we have low inflation, the whole mess will be over within 24 months. High energy prices will complicate matters and so will Iraq.

The market is unpredictable and fuzzy. Stay liquid and stick to bonds for a safer bet.

I suspect that the market will continue lower over the next month or two as additional fear surfaces due to other financial repercussions. I can not predict the future but have been getting more into cash (selling on the small rebounds) as the market has been going lower.

It does not matter how little you may have. Get out of the habit of saying, its only a small amount. Track and follow percentage changes, not dollar amounts. Keep you % losses small (by selling your loosers) and let your winners run.

Read and learn about technical analysis of the markets.

Best of luck to you. Having luck is executing with a prepared mind.

Despite all the discussion by "experts" - no one really knows - they just have opinions and many of those same experts were saying that real estate loans were not a problem.

Since the US stock market has gone up over time - that is why people are told to leave the money where it is. Investing is counter intuative. that is, when the market is rising and people are feeling good - that is when you should be selling and taking some profits. When you feel gloomy and that all the energy is out of the market that is when you should be doing some buying. It goes against common sense but that is how you buy low and sell high. You have to look at a market down turn as the good company shares are on sale. so buy some.